6AM City, a hyper-local media newsletter and news aggregator, on Monday, June 21 announced plans to expand from 8 to 24 markets and achieve more than a million subscribers by the end of 2021.
Cities like Boston, San Antonio, Seattle and San Diego are among those slated for launch in the coming months, signaling the company’s ambition – and ability – to penetrate big-market audiences.
Here’s the full list:
West Coast:
- Portland (PDXtoday)
- Sacramento (SACtoday)
- San Diego (SDtoday)
- San Jose (SJCtoday)
- Seattle (Seatoday)
Northeast:
- Boston (BOStoday)
Southeast:
- Lexington (LEXtoday)
- Richmond (RICtoday)
Midwest:
- Madison (608today)
- Indianapolis (INDYtoday)
Texas:
- Fort Worth (FTWtoday)
- San Antonio (SATXtoday)
The 6AM model is predicated on running lean, locally, while leveraging a national network of sales, graphic design, branded content creation and client services profesionals, said COO and co-founder Ryan Heafy.
“Each city has two editorial staffers and one paid intern who are entirely focused on local, earned, editorial content,” he said.
Metro areas that check a series of boxes related to revenue and subscription potential, “pride in place,” and new business growth, are a good fit, Heafy said. The company in May announced expansion plans for Louisville and Kansas City.
“As long as we have the capital, we can launch in any city in less than 60 days,” Heafy told the Business Journal. “We’re now recognizing some of these larger markets are our sweet spots.”
In addition to actively hiring for more than 30 positions, the company has added Adam Ryan, president of The Hustle, to the board of directors and Emily Parkhurst as vice president of content. Parkhurst joins 6AM City after leading the American City Business Journals as a market president and publisher.
